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Grounded in social construction theory, the current study investigates the learning context when studying financial planning in high school by analyzing the nesting of student, teacher and classroom characteristics. Key findings were that three student characteristics (initial financial knowledge, gender, senior grade level), one teacher variable (use of all curriculum assessments), and two classroom variables (proportion of junior students and students who spent more money per week) were significant predictors of students' financial knowledge gain. Significant predictors of students' behavior gain were one student characteristic (senior grade level), two student access to money variables (employment status, spending per week), and three classroom variables (mean initial financial behavior, proportion of students working part-time, proportion of rural students). Findings indicated that subject matter content alone was not sufficient to create behavior change; learning context must be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An on-line survey of K-12 teachers was conducted to determine teachers' background and capacity to teach personal finance. Results indicate that while teachers recognize the importance of teaching personal finance, few have had formal preparation for teaching this subject matter; also, the teaching of personal finance is highly concentrated by grade level and discipline. Teachers feel limited in preparedness in both subject matter and pedagogy, particularly in the more technical topic areas of risk management and insurance and saving and investing. Perceived preparation and prior personal finance background varies greatly among disciplines. Teachers also have concerns about their own personal financial well-being, especially future retirement income adequacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the differential impact on 79 high school students of a personal financial management course completed 1 to 4 years earlier. This study used a matched sample design based on a school system's records to identify students who had and had not taken a course in personal financial management. The findings indicated that those who took the course were no more financially literate than those who had not. In addition, those who took the course did not evaluate themselves to be more savings-oriented and did not appear to have better financial behavior than those who had not taken the course. The study raises serious questions about the longer-term effectiveness of high school financial literacy courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary recommends that financial counseling and planning research, education, and practice be framed as an interdisciplinary profession called personal finance. Authors summarize the history of the profession and key theories providing the conceptual foundation. In order for the emerging profession of personal finance to achieve significant visibility and gain maturity, professionals must reach consensus on defining collective scholarship. Readers are encouraged to engage in the dialogue and comment on the call to action by contacting the lead author. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]